Do more for animal welfare

SELANGOR’s plan to stop selling cats and dogs in pet shops has shone a much needed spotlight on the ugly side of backyard breeding in Malaysia.

Though there was no mention of the starting date, the proposed ban, which was announced on June 12 by Selangor executive councillor Ng Sze Han, is indeed timely.

The animal rescue fraternity was pleased with the news, given that backyard breeding is a huge bane in Malaysia as it is mostly carried out in horrible conditions.

These animals are often made to breed until their bodies give up.

They are then dumped on the streets when they cannot produce puppies or kittens anymore.

If they are lucky, the animals, mostly dogs, would be picked up by rescuers or animal lovers.

The unlucky ones would probably die in road accidents or of ill-health and starvation as their frail and bent bodies prevent them from scavenging for food to survive on the streets.

This is the grim reality behind backyard breeding, which is said to be a source of affordable puppies and kittens supplied to pet shops, which in turn enable just about anyone to own a pedigree.

Because of the poor conditions they were born into as well as indiscriminate in-breeding, these animals come with compromised health conditions.

So when “budget owners” could no longer afford the massive veterinary costs, the pets are unceremoniously abandoned on the streets.

As such, the plan for the ban led to much delight of animal rescuers, who encouraged animal lovers to adopt rescued mixed and local breeds or the dumped pedigrees.

They want the breeding and sale of pedigrees to be completely eradicated.

But this is not rationale or practical as it is akin to promoting feline and canine genocide. The halt in breeding will eventually wipe out entire breeds here.

And it’s also everybody’s right to own a feline or canine breed of their choice.

Hence, such a ban should be enforced for the right reason since there are no proper laws regulating for breeders in Malaysia.

And not because of the misconceived notion of completely wiping out breeding.

As for the authorities, besides regulating pet shops, there is a need to bust backyard breeders who are doing a booming business on social media platforms.

Only registered and reputable breeders should be allowed to breed and trade, once they can show proof that their puppies are not inbred by providing details of the sires and dams up to five or six generations.

Buyers must also only be allowed to pick up their new pets after the animals have received the third vaccination from a registered veterinarian and not, for instance, when the puppy is as young as one month old as is the practice now.

If double microchipping is allowed, the puppy or kitten must carry microchips with both the breeders’ and adopters’ details.

The onus must also be on breeders to keep proper records as there have been instances where they were clueless about their clients when microchipped dogs were rescued off the streets.

Perhaps pet shops, instead of having puppies and kittens miserably sitting in glass cases in their stores, can function as intermediaries to link buyers with home breeders.

Another important condition that must be imposed is that the dam can only be bred three times within three years and the sire about four times over a period of two years.

They must also not be kept caged and must be kept groomed and well-fed.

Once their breeding cycle is completed, both the sire and dam must be neutered and can be sold if the breeder has no desire to keep them.

It would be even better if they can be put up for adoption through adoption drives by animal rescue and welfare groups.

Animal rescuers are indeed a special group of people who would go the distance for the voiceless among us but more often than not, many of the issues they champion for go unresolved.

But there have also been irrational demands, an unwillingness to seek a middle path as well as not being able to come up with win-win suggestions.

However, there are also some so-called rescuers who have financial motives.

This would also jeopardise the efforts of genuine and hardworking animal activists.

This unscrupulous lot must also be flushed out together with the backyard breeders and illegal pet traders if animal welfare is expected to improve in Malaysia.